Truth or Dare
by Grissom
Summary: --Story Complete-- On a rare slow night, the CSI team decides to play some games to blow off steam and pass the time...GS
1. The Game Begins

Title: Truth or Dare

Rating: PG-13 or R (Haven't decided yet)

Summary: On a rare night with no work to do, the CSI team decides to play a few games to blow off steam. G/S

Grissom sighed as he checked his pager for the millionth time that night. It was dead, no pun intended. It seemed that even the criminals of Las Vegas were staying at home tonight. In four hours, there had been no calls for the forensics team. It was rare that this ever happened; something even Gil had never seen before.

He glanced up at the door to his office. Nick was walking by with Warrick, both chatting about something. Grissom caught a few words of it, 'baseball' and 'pennant' included. He decided that it was a conversation he wasn't going to be interested in. He grabbed a pencil from his desk, desperate to find something to do. Finding nothing, he simply began to tap it on the desk, cupping his chin in his hand.

Catherine and Sara were walking by, heard the tapping, and stopped to peer inside his office. They both smiled at the site of the inactive Gil Grissom. "Hey, Gil," Catherine called, startling him. "Still nothing?"

He sighed. "Still nothing."

"Do you…you want to come out here with us? Everyone's bored so Nick and Warrick though they could set up some games to play."

Grissom stared at her, eyebrow arched. "_Games_? We're reduced to playing games to keep busy?"

Catherine shook her head. "Well, you could either come join us or join Brass."

"What is Brass doing?"

Sara grinned. "Sleeping in his office."

The corners of Grissom's mouth lifted just a bit. "There's a good role model."

Catherine sighed. "Ok, you don't have to come if you don't want to. They're kiddy games anyway. We just thought it might be fun. If you change your mind, we'll all be in the break room." Grissom nodded, and the two women turned to leave. Catherine turned to Sara as they walked away. "It would take an act of God to get him out of that office." Sara smiled. 

They entered the break room, where Nick, Greg, and Warrick were already gathered. Nick was sniffing what looked like wine bottle, asking Warrick what had died in it. Warrick rolled his eyes and turned to look at the two women. "No Gris?"

Catherine shrugged and sat down in a chair. "Guess not. So guys, what are we playing today?"

Nick smiled. "Well, Warrick and I figured we'd go back to the classics."

Sara raised an eyebrow. "And what would those be?"

"Truth or Dare and Spin the Bottle."

Sara laughed. "What are we, fifteen years old?"

Nick shrugged. "Stupid fun. If you don't want to play then you could always go and join Grissom."

"Too late," Grissom said from the door. Everyone turned to him, surprised that he had ventured out of his office. He took a seat, flashing them all a cynical grin.

Nick smirked. "This should be fun." He glanced at everyone, frowning at Greg, who had tossed his head over the back of his chair and was staring at the ceiling. "What do you guys think we should play first?"

Catherine shrugged. "It's been years since I've played any of these games."

"Me too," Sara said. "I thought you graduated from these kinds of games after you graduated junior high."

"Come on, you guys. There just little games to help pass the time. No one will be judging anyone," he said, fixing his eyes on Grissom. Whether it was coincidental or on purpose, Grissom couldn't tell.

Grissom laid his palms on the table. "I'm game, I suppose."

Sara smirked. "Well, if those guys can convince Grissom to play, then I guess I'm in too."

"Me," Greg said, raising a hand.

Catherine sighed. "Alright!"

Nick smiled. "Great, we're all in. Now, Warrick and I have decided that we should play Truth or Dare first." There was a collection of groans from the table, Grissom's included. "Oh, chill out you guys. Ok, here's our rules. Everyone will take a turn asking one person truth or dare. The other person answers. If they choose truth, they will be asked a question, but they can always choose not to answer the question and do the dare instead. If they choose dare-"

"Nick, I believe we are all familiar with this game," Grissom said, not glancing up from the table.

"Er…right. Well, I'm not sure how long it's supposed to go on. But, we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Warrick lifted himself onto the counter. "I'll go first." He glanced around at the table of people, trying to decide who to victimize first. His eyes settled on Catherine. He smiled. "Catherine, truth or dare?"

Catherine rolled her eyes. "Truth?"

"What is the single-most embarrassing moment of your life?"

Catherine stared at him for a moment, then looked down at the table, her face blushing. "Ok. When I was twelve, I was supposed to play the part of Dorothy in our Wizard of Oz play at school. On opening night, I was stepping out onto the stage when the Cowardly Lion stepped on the hem of my dress, ripping it. I didn't notice until I got on stage and realized that everyone could see my pink underwear."

The table burst out laughing. Even Grissom smiled. Catherine laughed with them, then buried her face in her hand to cover her reddening face.

Nick frowned. "Wait…wait. What difference would that make to you. I mean, considering your past…"

Catherine gave him a go-to-hell look. "That was before my past, Nicky."

Nick held up his hands and looked around the table. "Gris," he said, staring at the man until he looked up from the table. "Truth or dare?"

Grissom smirked. "Truth."

"Ok, what is the most desperate thing you've ever done to pass a class?"

Grissom stared at him blankly for a moment, and Sara was afraid that he was going to leave. This was nice, him sitting here with everyone else. Joking around with them instead of buried in paperwork. Grissom seemed lost in thought for a moment. "I once offered to pay a girl five dollars a day to take care of my flour sack in Child Development."

Sara smirked. Grissom in Child Development was funny enough, but for him to actually _pay_ someone to take care of his fake baby was a whole new level. The rest of the group was also laughing. Grissom's cheeks reddened only slightly and he allowed a small smile to play across his lips.

Catherine scooted forward in her chair after everyone had calmed down. He looked around. "Greg," she said, startling him. "Truth or Dare?"

He frowned. "Truth, I guess."

"Have you ever worn women's clothing or make-up?" The whole table burst into laughter at just the question. Sara noticed that Grissom was actually laughing with them. He seemed to have relaxed a good bit; at least he wasn't staring at the table anymore.

Greg stared at Catherine with wide eyes. "Can I switch to Dare?" This caused the whole table to burst out into laughter again.

"Can't win on that one, Greggo," Nick said through his laughter. "You probably would have had to answer yes anyway, but now you just gave yourself away!"

Greg blushed. "Ok, Truth. Yes." A fresh surge of laughter ran through the group.

"A little elaboration, please?" Grissom asked in a serious tone. Sara smirked. He actually seemed to care if his lab technician was a cross-dresser.

Greg blushed again. "I was just a kid, ok. I don't do it now. But it was just kinda fun, you know, grab Mom's clothes and paint your face."

More laughter. Then everyone glanced from Greg to Grissom to Sara. Sara leaned forward. "Grissom," she said. He looked up at her, and she tried not to get caught in his eyes. "Truth or Dare?"

He smiled. "Truth?"

"Geez, I think everyone's afraid of the Dare part," Nick commented.

Sara rolled her eyes at him. "What is something that you're afraid of that you don't want anyone to know?"

Grissom stared at her for a moment, as if trying to decide if she was serious or not. The corners of his mouth lifted as he stared. "Poodles."

Nick nearly doubled over in laughter, Catherine buried her face in her hands, Warrick did the same. Grissom grinned and looked back down at the table for a second before turning back to them.

Greg cocked an eyebrow. "Poodles, Gris? Of all things. May I ask why?"

Grissom grinned. "Childhood trauma. A batty old neighbor of our used to have one when I was really little. The dog was really snippy and used to growl and snap at me all the time." He shrugged as they laughed again. "Hey, I was only three or four."

Warrick grinned. "Ok, down to Greg and Grissom."

Greg exchanged glances with Grissom. "Ok then," Greg said. He turned to Nick. 

"Truth," Nick said.

"Ok. Have you ever been accused of being gay by anyone you did or did not know?"

Nick stared at him for a minute, a startled expression on his face. Whatever he had been expecting to be asked, obviously, _that_ was not it. Grissom frowned at Greg, but did not say anything.

Nick blinked once. "No. I haven't."

There was an awkward silence for a moment until Warrick clapped his hands once. "Ok then, I think we should switch games."

"Wait, Grissom didn't go," Sara said quickly. Everyone turned to him. He stared at his hands for a moment before looking at them each in turn. His eyes settled on Sara. "Sara."

She shook her head, still smiling. Now what on earth could Grissom ask her? "Truth."

"Who is the person you've found yourself most attracted to, but knew you could never have?" he asked seriously, staring at her. Everyone turned to him, smiling, thinking it was all a big joke.

Sara was speechless for a moment. What was he trying to do? Give it away that she had even an inkling of attraction for him. "Well," she said carefully, thinking past Grissom, "I did have this teacher in high school. He taught physics."

Nick snorted. "You had a crush on your high school physics teacher?"

She glared at him. "Right, like you've never done the same."

Nick sighed and crossed his arms. "Well…not a physics teacher."

Catherine glanced at Grissom, who had a small, inconspicuous smile on his face as he gazed at Sara. _What kind of a question was _that_ to ask?_ she wondered to herself. 

Warrick slapped Nick on the back once. "Whatever floats your boat, Nick. Ok, who wants to move on to the next game?" Another collection of groans. He smirked at them and pulled out the wine bottle, setting it in the middle of the table. "Alright, everyone," he glanced at Grissom, who was staring at the bottle almost fearfully, "has to take a turn. If they refuse, they will forever be labeled as a wuss in the CSI lab. Everyone knows what to do. If you don't like the person the bottle lands on, suck it up and play." He grinned maliciously. "No cheek pecks. This is all mouth-to-mouth."

A collection of protests erupted from the table. Warrick held up a hand. "Those are my rules. And…it doesn't matter it the target is male or female. Just go at it."

Nick glanced at the only two women at the table, then scanned the rest of the table with a grimace on his face. His eyes rested on Grissom, who shared a similar look of disgust.

"First guy to try and kiss me will end up with Doc Robbins," Grissom said calmly.

It seemed to break the ice a little bit with the others. They laughed and shook their heads. "Doesn't matter, Gris. If a guy lands on you, then…well, it was nice to know you." He pointed at Catherine. "Alright, you first, Cat."

Catherine smirked and reached for the bottle, spinning it with a twist of her wrist. It spun for a long while, then stopped on Greg, who smiled goofily. Catherine groaned audibly. "You coming to me or do I have to go to you?"

Greg shrugged. "I think you should come to me."

She sighed and stood up from her chair, walking up to Greg. She pecked him once really quick on the lips then sank back into her seat. "This is more embarrassing than Truth or Dare could ever be!" she declared.

Nick smirked. "My turn." He spun the bottle, then groaned in dismay when it landed on Warrick. "No way!"

"Hey, you agreed on these rules!" Warrick said.

Nick clenched his eyes shut, then quickly pecked Warrick once. He immediately turned away and buried his face in his hands, wishing he could bang his head against the wall. Warrick wasn't feeling much better; he was beginning to wish he had never made those rules. Grissom smirked at them. _Maybe know they see how stupid this really is._ He scrunched up his face as he thought about it. That_ has got to be the nastiest thing I've ever seen._

Warrick slowly recovered. "Ok, my turn." He spun the bottle, then sighed in relief when it landed on Catherine. He grinned at her as he made her way to her seat, raising his eyebrows at her as well. Catherine simply rolled her eyes. He kissed her quickly, but slower than Nick or Catherine herself had done. He pulled away and sat back in his seat, smiling as if he had just won an award.

"Know don't forget, although you got to kiss me, you were already kissed by Nick," Catherine reminded him. Warrick groaned and leaned his head back in the chair. "Sara, your turn," he said without looking up.

Sara nervously reached out and spun the bottle. It revolved slowly, eventually stopping. Her heart skipped a beat when she looked up at who it had stopped on.

Grissom stared at the bottle with a slightly panicked look on his face when it stopped, pointing at him. Nick sniggered. "Poor Sara," he said quietly.

Sara glanced up at Grissom and met his eyes for a moment. She saw fear and uncertainty, but yet there was also a bit of longing in them as well. She hoped she was the only one who noticed. She sighed and stood up from her seat. "Great," she said, making her way over to Grissom. She winked at the others behind Grissom's back, then leaned down toward him.

She put a hand on the back of his head to keep him from pulling away, and planted her lips on his. The kiss was short, but longer than any of the previous ones. She pulled away and laughed her way back to her chair. Everyone else realized that she was picking on Grissom and laughed with her. 

Grissom simply stared at Sara with wide eyes, a shocked expression painted on his face. Sara smiled at him teasingly, keeping up the rouse that it was all part of the game. But a secret part of her longed to go back over to him and kiss him again. Longer and harder this time. That kiss had been a tease for her, letting her taste him and feel his mouth on hers, but not long enough. 

Warrick was laughing so hard he had tears forming in his eyes. "Alright, Gris. Your turn, if you can take it."

Grissom turned to look at Warrick, the shocked expression still on his face. He reached for the bottle and nervously spun it. Sara noticed how badly his hand shook. The bottle spun a few times, then landed on Sara.

"Well, what do you know, Sara. Looks like you're the lucky one," Nick quipped. "He gets to return the favor."

Just then, however, a beeping noise sounded from Grissom's shirt pocket. He pulled out his cell phone and flipped it on. "Grissom," he said into it. He listened for a few minutes. "Yeah. We'll be right there." He flipped the phone shut and quickly stood up from his chair. "We've got a double homicide. Nick, Catherine, you guys come with me."

"No way!" Nick protested. "That was set up, Gris!"

Grissom gave him a severe gaze. "Double homicide, Nick. Get in gear."

TBC


	2. The Game Continues

****

Well, here it is. The conclusion to my very first CSI fic. Just a little...higher rated fluff, though it didn't get as high as it could have. 

Grissom sighed and tossed his jacket onto the couch. It had been a long night. They'd been called to the crime scene of a double homicide, which turned out to be a murder and a suicide. The parents of the killer refused to believe that their son was capable of murder, much less suicide, and kept pestering Grissom for information. He had tried to be polite at first, but after a while he just told them to leave him the hell alone and let him do his job.

He sank into the couch and put his face in his hands, sighing deeply. He tried to reflect on the case, but his thought kept being pulled to Sara and the kiss. He shook his head, absently running a finger over his lips. _That meant nothing. It was all part of the game. She was toying with me, trying to humiliate me._ He rubbed his temples with his thumbs. He had a major headache coming on. _Payback for rejecting her dinner offer…_

A knock on the door surprised him, and for a moment he just stared at the door, as if unsure of what to do. He slowly stood up and went to the door, opening it quickly. It was Sara. At first, he could only stare at her.

She handed him a file. "You forgot the file on the case. I know how you usually like to take those home with you."

He took it from her slowly, his fingers brushing hers. "Thanks." He seemed lost in thought for a moment, as if trying to decide something difficult. "Want to come in?" he asked.

Sara was shocked. _Wait, did he just… No way…not Grissom…_ She smiled at him. "Sure."

He nodded and stood aside to let her in, shutting the door behind her. She turned back to him. He was still standing by the door, as if unsure of where to go from there.

"Er…You want a drink? I think I've got some stuff in the fridge," he said.

Sara smiled at him. "Sure."

He smirked. "Is that all you can say?"

She shrugged. "Sure."

He rolled his eyes and made his way to his kitchen, throwing open the refrigerator door and peering inside. "Well, I'm afraid all I have is one Coca-Cola, one Dr. Pepper, and one Sprite. All are loaded with caffeine." He looked up from the fridge, surprised to see that she was peering over his shoulder. "Not good if you're trying to crash after a long night."

"Sprite's fine," she said, reaching over his shoulder and grabbing it, reaching past the Petri dishes with who-knew-what growing in them. He shrugged and grabbed the Dr. Pepper. They stood in silence for a moment, Grissom growing more and more fearful by the minute. He turned for a second to idly toss a piece of paper into the garbage. When he turned around, he almost ran right into Sara.

"You know what, Grissom?" she asked, looking into his eyes. "You still owe me a kiss."

He blinked. Had she really said what he thought she had said? He cocked his head to the side, staring at her.

She smiled. _Typical Gil_, she thought to herself. She moved a little closer to him, just barely touching him. While she wanted the biggest move to be up to him, she figured it wouldn't hurt to push him a little. Show him that she was really interested.

He stared at her for a long moment, reflexively raising his arms. Almost on their own accord, his hands found her face, holding it and reveling in the touch. He gently caressed her face with his thumbs, seeming unsure if he should proceed.

Sara's heart was racing. He was actually making a move. Grissom was actually capable of showing affection. She closed her eyes when his hands held her face and nuzzled them, egging him on. He froze for a moment, and she tried to boost his confidence by turning and kissing one of his hands. She opened her eyes and met his, silently begging him to stop torturing her. _Stop playing, Grissom. Stop messing with me and kiss me!_

Panic rose in his chest, and he almost jerked his hands away from Sara's face. _This is wrong, this is all wrong. I'm not meant for Sara. I can't do this_. These thoughts and more raced through his head, but became less clear as he stared into her eyes. Fear crept into her eyes, fearing that he was going to turn and run.

He smiled once, then lowered his face to hers. Gil's sudden move surprised Sara, but she quickly recovered, returning the kiss. _I've waited so long for this,_ she thought to herself. _It was well worth the wait._

It started out gentle, but when Grissom felt Sara return the kiss, his confidence increased. _This is really happening,_ he thought. He pulled away after a moment, staring down at the ground before looking up at her.

She smiled. "Wow. Good thing you saved that for here and not the lab."

He laughed softly. "Yeah. I think that would have caused more than a few eyebrows to be raised." He turned away from her. She panicked for a second, thinking that he had been pushed too far, but he was only grabbing their drinks. 

She nodded. "Yeah."

He held out an arm to his living room. "You want to go and sit?" he asked, his voice shaking.

Sara smiled gently. Grissom was a very hard man to figure out. One minute he was kissing her as if he was head-over-heels, the next he was asking her if she'd like to sit down, much like you would do with a relative. She nodded, then followed his lead to the small couch. She sat in one corner, her legs folded up beneath her. He sat next to her, almost stiffly.

Sara raised an eyebrow as she looked around Grissom's home. "You could use some redecorating, you know. And some AC."

"No point in redecorating. Never have any company. And I don't need AC, I have those," he said, pointing to a fan.

Sara shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Kinda obvious you don't stay home very much."

He half-nodded. "Work."

She set her drink down on the floor. "You don't have to work so much, you know. It's unhealthy for you."

He smirked. "You're one to talk. Catherine says you're a younger, female version of me."

"Is that so bad?" she asked, leaning closer to him.

He sighed. "In certain aspects, it can be." He turned to look at the wall for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.

Sara leaned closer to him, setting a hand on his knee. He glanced down at it, then quickly looked back to his butterfly case. Sara smiled. "Tell me, Grissom. Why are you so afraid to take a chance? I mean, with a case, with work, you're always taking chances. All of your wild theories, experiments. Why is a relationship so different?"

He turned to her. "With an experiment, you control the variables. You make everything the way you want it, then you see what happens. And you can always start over with an experiment. The same with a theory. As new evidence comes in, you can reevaluate the theory. You can't try again with a relationship." He turned away slowly. "So if I screw this up, that's it. There's no second chance, no changing variables to make it more favorable on my part."

Sara cocked her head to the side. "Wow," she said, startled at getting such a deep and clear answer. She'd half expected Grissom to reply with some long-forgotten poem. She leaned into Grissom, putting a hand around his shoulders, laying her head on his shoulder. "So that's it, huh? Bad past experiences?"

He smirked, turning to her. "A few."

"Well, so far you aren't doing so badly with this one. And I think all the variables are in your favor," she said, staring into his eyes.

His smiled deepened. "That's good. Because this is the one time I actually need for things to work."

"Why is that, Gris?" she asked, scooting closer to him and wrapping her arms around his chest.

He smiled, putting his arm around her and holding her close. "Because now I know what to do. And I can only hope I'm not too late." He looked down at her, snuggled against his chest, waiting for his brain to kick in and give him a reason why this was wrong. But no such thought came, nor did he want it to. _Maybe,_ he dared to think, _this isn't wrong. Maybe it could work…_He closed his eyes, then kissed the top of Sara's head.

She shifted, turning to look up at him. "You're not too late," she whispered, lifting a hand to caress his cheek. "You're just in time." Her hand moved up to his hair, running gently through the curls.

"Lucky me." He smiled, then pressed his lips to her forehead, his eyes closed. That, however, didn't seem to be enough for Sara, years of longing finally able to break loose. She shifted again on the small couch, practically in his lap. She grinned at him, then put a hand behind his neck and pulled him to her.

At first, when Grissom didn't return the kiss, she feared that she had pushed him too far, too fast. But when she pulled away, ready to apologize to him, he was the one to initiate the next kiss, becoming more and more confident as they went. His hands began to tentatively explore her body, though he made no attempt to remove clothing. For the moment, he simply reveled in being able to touch her, having her close to him.

She smiled at this, then moved to his neck. A small groan escaped him as she did, and her smile deepened, pleased to get a reaction from him. She nipped at his ears gently as her hands moved to the buttons of his shirt.

His hand suddenly grasped hers. "Sara…" he whispered, lowering his head slightly.

She looked to his eyes, seeing fear creeping into them. "Gris?"

He looked away for a moment, then looked back into her eyes, squeezing her hand gently. "I don't want to lose you."

She smiled, reassuring him with a kiss. "I'm not going anywhere. I want this Grissom. I really do. And I've been waiting for years."

His eyes widened slightly and his eyebrows rose. "Years?"

"Yes, Grissom, years. Are you blind? Or do you just choose not to see?" She put her cheek to his for a moment. "I've waited three years. I've hinted for three years, and yet its taken you this long to realize something was going on."

"I'm just a little slow at that, I guess."

She smiled. "Yeah, but you would be able to point out a man's mistress out of a room full of women just by the way they look at each other."

He shrugged. "Part of the job."

She shook her head, but didn't pull away from him. "Well, I waited for you for three years, and I'm not too keen on waiting much longer."

He grinned. "And I'm not too keen on doing this on my couch."

Sara laughed, looking down at it. "It is kinda cramped, isn't it?" She stood up, grasping his hand to pull him up. He stood, then let her pull him to the bedroom.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sara's eyes slowly fluttered open. Something had disturbed her restful sleep, but she wasn't sure what it had been. She frowned, then rolled over, her hand hitting bare sheet.

He was gone, she realized. She panicked for a moment. Had she pushed him to far? Too fast, as she had feared before? Had he woken up, realized what they'd done, the fled? Probably to figure out some way to apologize and cut off the budding relationship.

She sighed and rolled back towards the bare wall. He thought inadvertently went back to earlier, and she smiled to herself. After wanting him for years, she had not been disappointed. He had met, and exceeded, all of her expectations. She'd never expected the anti-social, bug-loving Grissom she knew could be capable of such care and affection he'd shown. 

But now he was gone, and Sara wasn't sure why. He had seemed so sure, so ready. Had she misread him that badly?

She closed her eyes, trying to figure out how she would repair things with him. Then suddenly, the bed sank down a few inches as another person added their weight to it. She began to turn, but stopped when she felt a warm hand on her arm.

She smiled, then continued her roll to end up facing him. "Hey," she said quietly.

"Hi," he replied, reaching over her to put a coffee cup onto the nightstand. Then he settled back down next to her, idly running the back of his hand up and down her arm. She smiled and wrapped her arms around him, snuggling close to his chest. She felt safe there with him. Why, she couldn't explain, but she knew that she'd never felt this way before about anyone.

His hand suddenly froze, and she looked up at him. She searched his eyes, but found him lost in thought. "Gris? What is it?" Thought buzzed through her head, each one telling her that he was going to run.

He looked down at her, the fear in her eyes not lost to him. He smiled, then kissed her gently. "I'm trying to figure out what I've done."

She frowned, scrunching up her face in confusion.

"What I've done to deserve you," he finished, moving his hand up her arm to cup her face. "I feel…unworthy."

A smile slowly blossomed across her face. "Maybe…" she said playfully. "Maybe you're just lucky."

"Oh, I know I am." He pulled her closer. "I know I am."

Her smile deepened as his hands gently caressed her back. "Hey Grissom…"

"Hmm?" He pulled back to look at her, noting the mischievous glint in her eyes.

She put her lips up to his ear. "Truth or Dare?"

THE END


End file.
